Jennifer Lawrence: Weight obsession is a 'dark cloud' over Hollywood

Actress Jennifer Lawrence is all too familiar with Hollywood's obsession and expectations when it comes to the waistlines of female stars. Shortly after she was cast as Katniss in "The Hunger Games," she faced criticism from those who thought she was too curvy to play the character.

That didn't matter to Lawrence. In a recent interview with Elle magazine, she stressed that she didn't want young girls skipping dinner "to look like Katniss." She even claimed that by Hollywood standards she's "obese."

And as she told NBC’s Andrea Canning in an interview that aired Wednesday morning on TODAY, she doesn't plan to change in order to please Tinseltown.

"I've never really dieted or wanted to diet, or anything, and I just feel like, it's something that really overwhelms our industry in an unfortunate way," Lawrence explained. "It just kind of becomes this distracting dark cloud."

A cloud that she finds particularly disturbing.

"I grew up with tabloids and seeing it on TV, and who's losing this much weight, how to lose this weight this fast, and it's just … it's kind of gross," she said. "And I'm just ready for it to stop."

Until then, Lawrence is happy to buck that trend. And that's not the only Hollywood standard she avoids.

Lawrence, who's currently the focus of early Oscar buzz for her role opposite Bradley Cooper in "Silver Linings Playbook," doesn't have any interest in participating in the usual young-Hollywood hijinks.

"I'm very boring, and (the paparazzi) know that," she said. "Like, all the paparazzi leave my house at like, 5.pm., because they know I'm not going anywhere."

Those who would like a glimpse of the star can get it Wednesday, as "Silver Linings Playbook" opens in theaters nationwide.